Word Search Maker

How to use it

1. Add words. One per line, up to 60. Spelling lists, vocabulary, names of classmates, places from a unit, ingredients, anything with letters. Spaces and punctuation are removed in the grid but kept in the word bank.
2. Choose a grid. From 5 x 5 to 40 x 40, and it need not be square. 12 x 12 suits ten short words; 15 x 15 is the usual classroom size; 20 x 20 and above are for adults or long lists.
3. Set the difficulty. Tick the directions you want to allow and whether words may share letters where they cross. The puzzle is rebuilt as you change settings, so you can watch it get denser.
4. Print. Give the puzzle a title, choose Letter or A4, and decide whether to add an answer key on a second page; the word bank prints under the grid (or on a page of its own when a very large grid leaves no room). Then download the PDF, or use Print for your browser's own print dialog.

Choosing a difficulty

Two things decide how hard a word search is: which directions words can run in, and how much empty space there is around them.

Directions. Readers scan left to right and top to bottom, so words placed forwards (→) and downwards (↓) are found quickly; this is the right setting for early readers, who are still building the habit of scanning for letter patterns. Diagonals (↘ ↗) are the next step. Backwards (←) and upwards (↑ ↖ ↙) words force the solver to read against the grain and are what makes an adult puzzle feel like work. The default here is forwards, downwards and the two rising-and-falling diagonals, which suits most classes from about third grade.

Grid size. Filler letters are the camouflage. On a 10 x 10 grid with twelve words, nearly every row contains part of a word; on a 20 x 20 grid with the same words, three quarters of the cells are noise and each word takes much longer to find. If a puzzle is meant to fill five minutes at the start of a lesson, keep the grid small; if it is a rainy-day activity, make it large.

Overlaps. Allowing words to cross where they share a letter packs more words into a small grid and adds a small extra challenge, because a found word's letters can't simply be crossed out. Turn it off for the youngest solvers.

Filler letters. Empty cells are filled with random letters A to Z, weighted toward the letters your words actually use, so a word full of rare letters is not given away by the only Q and Z on the page. If your list uses letters outside A to Z, for example Spanish or German vocabulary with ñ, ü or ß, the filler is drawn from the letters of your own words instead, so the accented letters don't stand out either.

Word searches in the classroom

• Spelling and vocabulary. Students have to read each word in the bank, hold its spelling in mind and match it letter by letter, which is quiet, useful rehearsal. Ask them to write a sentence with each word they find for a longer task.
• Early finishers and centers. Print a class set once, laminate, and use dry-erase markers. The answer key page lets a center run itself.
• Language learners. Give the word bank in the target language with a translation or picture beside each word, and read the words aloud before students start.
• Clue versions. Give definitions or a fill-in-the-blank sentence for each word instead of the word bank; students must work out the word before they can look for it. The bank prints under every grid, so fold it under or mask it on the copier.
• Two versions of one list. Press Shuffle to get a second grid with the same words so that neighbours can't copy, and keep both answer keys.

Answer keys

The answer key is the same grid with every placed word highlighted, with the word bank repeated underneath. It is generated from the placement data, not by searching the grid, so it is always right, and because the filler letters are re-rolled until each word can be found only once, there is no second, accidental copy of a word for a student to find and argue about. Print the key on its own page, or tick "Show answers" on screen and let students check their own work.